I Quit, Says Mubarak

Going: President Mubarak announced his plan to step aside in a televised address last night

Egypt's detested leader Hosni Mubarak last night agreed to ­relinquish his grip on power..

After a momentous day of mass protests, which saw up to a million people pour out onto the streets of Egypt’s main cities, the ageing leader went on television to say he would not stand again for election.

Following meetings with advisers and top military brass, Mr Mubarak announced his decision in a ten-minute televised speech to the nation last night.

Vowing he would step aside in September at the next presidential election, the 82-year-old said: ‘In all sincerity, regardless of the current circumstance, I never intended to be a candidate for another term.’

He said Egyptians now wanted to choose between ‘chaos and confusion’, adding that he would not flee and intended to die in Egypt.

‘I have never wanted to be in power,’ he said. ‘I have never betrayed anyone and have never run from responsibility.

'Now my responsibility is stability in the country and to establish and fulfil the transition in the circumstances that would allow the Egyptian people peace and for them to choose whoever they want to chose in the next elections ... Egypt will get out of this situation and it will be stronger than it was, more confident.'

He added he will work during 'the final months of my current term' to carry out the 'necessary steps for the peaceful transfer of power'.

Vowing he would step aside in September at the next presidential election, the 82-year-old said: ‘In all sincerity, regardless of the current circumstance, I never intended to be a candidate for another term.’

He said Egyptians now wanted to choose between ‘chaos and confusion’, adding that he would not flee and intended to die in Egypt.

‘I have never wanted to be in power,’ he said. ‘I have never betrayed anyone and have never run from responsibility.

'Now my responsibility is stability in the country and to establish and fulfil the transition in the circumstances that would allow the Egyptian people peace and for them to choose whoever they want to chose in the next elections ... Egypt will get out of this situation and it will be stronger than it was, more confident.'

He added he will work during 'the final months of my current term' to carry out the 'necessary steps for the peaceful transfer of power'.

Mr Mubarak said he planned to implement reforms desired by the protesters in the remainder of his time in office.

It is thought he has also agreed not to allow his hated son, Gamal, to stand for election.

Egypt’s band of opposition parties, including the banned Muslim Brotherhood, have begun to coalesce around the figure of Mohamed El Baradei, a Nobel Peace laureate for his work as head of the UN nuclear agency.

Earlier in the day in Cairo, effigies of Mr Mubarak were hung from lamp-posts, as people screamed for him to quit, likening him to Hitler and a donkey.

After the president’s speech, jubilant demonstrators in the city’s jammed Tahrir (Liberation) Square cheered but began chanting for him to leave power immediately.

Khaled Osman, 40, a tourist guide from Aswan, said: ‘I am so happy that the old man has finally given up. But he must go now. And we will stay here campaigning until he goes.

'The game is over, he knows that.’

Tourist guide Mohammed Al Gawad, 33, from Hurghada, said: ‘We have had enough of his brutality. We want to be free.

‘We want to decide our own destiny. And we want jobs. These are the things that Mubarak has not given us. He just stole our money.’

Mr Mubarak’s move, following eight days of continuous protests, could send shockwaves across the Middle East, which has seen two strongmen kicked out of office in two months following a similar overthrowing in Tunisia.

Attention will now to turn to regimes such as Syria, Libya, Saudi Arabia and Jordan to see if there will be changes there.

Earlier yesterday, Jordan’s King Abdullah replaced his prime minister in a bid to head off a copycat revolution amid street protests over poor living conditions.

The power-shifts could have major consequences for Israel, as Egypt and Jordan are the only Arab countries to formally recognise Israel.

Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu signalled his concern that a pro-Islamist regime may take shape in Egypt.

The announcement came after the largest day yet of protests, in which demonstrators sang nationalist songs and chanted the anti-Mubarak 'Leave! Leave! Leave!' as military helicopters buzzed overhead.

Soldiers at checkpoints set up the entrances of the square did nothing to stop the crowds from entering.

Protesters had also gathered in at least five other cities across Egypt, confident there would be no heavy-handed military tactics after the army statement, aired on state TV on Monday night, which promised to recognise 'the legitimacy of the people's demands'.

It was the strongest sign yet that it was willing to let the protests continue and even grow as long as they remain peaceful - regardless of whether it would have led to the fall of Mubarak.

Organisers had even hoped as many as two million people might take to the streets after the previous night's flag-waving and slogan chanting took place in an almost jolly atmosphere.

A curfew had been ignored for the fourth straight day and yesterday morning prayers were undertaken peacefully in Tahrir Square before getting down to the real business of the day: ousting Mubarak, 82, after three decades in power.

'This is the end for him. It's time,' said Musab Galal, a 23-year-old unemployed university graduate who came by minibus with his friends from the Nile Delta city of Menoufiya

The president's attempts to defuse the crisis had fallen flat and failed to appease the gathering demonstrators.

His main political ally, the United States, had also roundly rejected his efforts and announcement of a new government on Monday, which dropped his highly unpopular interior minister, who heads the police forces, and has been widely denounced by the protesters.

Demonstrators had been equally unimpressed by the measures.

The protesters had been more organised than on previous days. Volunteers wearing tags reading 'the People's Security' circulated through the crowds, saying they were watching for government infiltrators who might try to instigate violence.

'We will throw out anyone who tries to create trouble,' one announced over a loudspeaker. Other volunteers joined the soldiers at the checkpoints, searching bags of those entering for weapons. Organisers said the protest would remain in the square and not attempt to march to avoid frictions with the military.

Many protesters felt that Mubarak is a friend of Israel, still seen by most Egyptians as their country's archenemy more than 30 years after the two nations signed a peace treaty.

Every protester had their own story of why they came - with a shared theme of frustration with a life pinned in by corruption, low wages, crushed opportunities and abuse by authorities.

Sahar Ahmad, a 41-year-old school teacher and mother of one, said she has taught for 22 years and still only makes about $70 a month.

'There are 120 students in my classroom. That's more than any teacher can handle,' said Ahmad.

'For me, change would mean a better education system I can teach in and one that guarantees my students a good life after school. If there is democracy in my country, then I can ask for democracy in my own home.'

Tamer Adly, a driver of one of the thousands of minibuses that ferry commuters around Cairo, said he was sick of the daily humiliation he felt from police who demand free rides and send him on petty errands, reflecting the widespread public anger at police high-handedness.

'They would force me to share my breakfast with them ... force me to go fetch them a newspaper. This country should not just be about one person,' the 30-year-old lamented, referring to Mubarak.

Among the older protesters there was also a sense of amazement after three decades of unquestioned control by Mubarak's security forces over the streets.

'We could never say no to Mubarak when we were young, but our young people today proved that they can say no, and I'm here to support them,' said Yusra Mahmoud, a 46-year-old school principal who said she had been sleeping in the square alongside other protesters for the previous two nights.

A leaflet circulated saying it was time for the military to choose between Mubarak and the people, and a frequently heard chant promised: 'He only needs a push!'

On Monday Vice President Omar Suleiman - appointed by Mubarak only two days earlier - went on state TV to announce the offer of a dialogue with 'political forces' for constitutional and legislative reforms.

Suleiman did not say what the changes would entail or which groups the government would speak with.

Opposition forces have long demanded the lifting of restrictions on who is eligible to run for president to allow a real challenge to the ruling party, as well as measures to ensure elections are fair.

However, Sir Andrew Green, former director of the Middle East for the Foreign Office, warned that there would be 'chaos' for some time to come in Egypt.

The retired diplomat warned that the West would miss the stability that President Mubarak gave as Egypt was now in a 'revolutionary' stage.

Sir Andrew told Channel 4 News: 'In Egypt, there is no prince over the water waiting to take over.'

Even if democracy prevails, Sir Andrew said 'There is no way they can in a very short amount of time produce a stable and balanced government.'

The U.S. is working diplomatic channels behind the scenes in a bid to smooth any governmental transition, yet it seemed to have abandoned any support for Mubarak.

President Barack Obama said last night that Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak must begin a transition immediately toward a new government and assured protesters demanding the ousting of their longtime leader that 'we hear your voices.'

The transition 'must be meaningful, it must be peaceful and it must begin now,' Obama said at the White House after speaking with the Egyptian president by telephone for 30 minutes.

The State Department had sent a retired senior diplomat - former ambassador to Egypt Frank Wisner - to meet Egyptian officials in Cairo to urge them to embrace broad economic and political changes that can pave the way for free and fair elections.

The army statement, aired on state TV, said the powerful military recognizes 'the legitimacy of the people's demands' - the strongest sign that it was willing to let the protests continue and even grow as long as they remain peaceful.

For days, army tanks and troops have surrounded Tahrir Square, keeping the protests confined but doing nothing to stop people from joining.

Military spokesman Ismail Etman said the military 'has not and will not use force against the public' and underlined that 'the freedom of peaceful expression is guaranteed for everyone.'

He added the caveats, however, that protesters should not commit 'any act that destabilizes security of the country' or damage property.

Looting that erupted over the weekend across the city of around 18 million has eased - but Egyptians endured another day of the virtual halt of normal life, raising fears of damage to the economy if the crisis drags on.

Trains stopped running on Monday, possibly an attempt by authorities to prevent residents of the provinces from joining protests in the capital.

A curfew which had been imposed for a fourth straight day - starting an hour earlier, at 3pm - was widely ignored.

Banks, schools and the stock market in Cairo were closed for the second working day, making cash tight.

An unprecedented complete shutdown of the Internet was also in its fourth day. Long lines formed outside bakeries as people tried to replenish their stores of bread.

Cairo's international airport was a scene of chaos as thousands of foreigners sought to flee the unrest, and countries around the world scrambled to send in planes to fly their citizens out.

Yesterday, there were more than 18,000 passengers stranded there as food supplies dwindled and airport staff were thin on the ground.

Some tourists even reported being forced to pay bribes to policemen before being permitted to board what planes did manage to take off.

But as the struggle for calm continued, there were serious doubts about what will follow now Mubarak has been toppled.

Can this eruption of anger largely by grass-roots activists coalesce into a unified political leadership?

There were signs on Monday of an attempt to do so with around 30 representatives from various opposition groups meeting to work out a joint stance.

They were scheduled to meet again yesterday to continue the discussions but unity is far from certain among groups with sometimes conflicting agendas.

There are students, online activists, grass-roots organizers, old-school opposition politicians and the fundamentalist Muslim Brotherhood, along with everyday citizens drawn by the exhilaration of marching against the government.

The various protesters have little in common beyond the demand that Mubarak go.

Perhaps the most significant tensions among them is between young secular activists and the Muslim Brotherhood, which wants to form an Islamist state in the Arab world's largest nation.

The more secular are deeply suspicious as the Brotherhood aims to co-opt what they contend is a spontaneous, popular movement. American officials have suggested they have similar fears.

The outlawed Muslim Brotherhood remains Egypt's largest opposition movement.

In a nod to the suspicions, Brotherhood figures insist they are not seeking a leadership role.

'We don't want to harm this revolution,' Mohamed Mahdi Akef, a former leader of the group.

Cairo airport on Monday was a scene of near-chaos as thousands of holidaymakers tried to get home from Egypt.

An estimated 18,000 were still stuck there yesterday, although many British citizens and other holidaymakers in Sharm el Sheikh and the Red Sea resorts are staying put.

Britain will send a charter aircraft to Egypt today to bring back Britons who wish to leave, Foreign Secretary William Hague told the Commons yesterday .

'I have ... decided to send a charter aircraft to enable further British nationals to leave the country if they wish to do so,' he said.

'That will set off for Egypt [] and I will send further flights if necessary, just to make sure that people are able to leave if they wish to do so,' he said.

The 200-seat flight will supplement commercial flights, and will cost £300 a ticket.

Last night British travellers said the response was too little too late.

Nardia Ali, 27, a teacher from Leeds who called the Foreign Office two days ago, said: ‘They told me there was nothing to worry about but to ... lock myself in the bathroom.

‘It’s absolutely disgraceful.’

[Source : daily mail]